Everything is about values, but it doesn't have to be too big of a deal
Self importance and sharing ideas in the digital age
Recently it’s felt like I’ve sold my soul to the content gods. Besides what it does to my screen time and focus, I’ve also discovered it takes a great toll on identity. Who am I to share my ideas as genius? Am I even calling them genius? Does it even matter?
In general, I think we’ve culturally moved away from the narrative that posting is associated with narcissistic “influencerism.” The internet is a tool for communication and reach that cannot be ignored, and collectively we’ve stopped shaming each other for experimenting with it (for the most part).
But even if your friends aren’t judging you, you likely feel they are and you’re probably judging yourself. Digital landscapes cause identity crises not because of likes and engagement, but because we have to pick one aspect of ourselves at any given point in time, putting us in a conversation of values that transcends a 10 second Tik Tok.
Because social media requires us to pick certain elements of ourselves, highlight the even better parts, and get rid of all the rest, we end up with digital identities that are in many ways, a secret third thing. It’s not you as you are in the physical, but it’s also not you as you perceive yourself. It’s just another existing character that includes aspects of both. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing if you can build a relationship with this energy.
Currently, we don’t look at internet personalities as third characters associated with real humans, we look at them as the person themselves. At least… most of the time. But what happens when the character falls short?
Because humans are complex creatures in constant states of evolution, we can’t consistently subscribe to ideas or messages forever. Curation can only go so far. Hence cancel culture. Hence impulsivity. Hence digital footprint.
But this “secret third thing” identity is taken for you and now you are responsible for them and everything associated with them! What now!!
As we build our relationship between digital and physical worlds, it’s important to recognize an element of existing agency in social media, but it’s even more important to realize the digital landscape is much more alike the physical one than we think. We can pretty much mess around, talk to each other and live our lives without thinking about it too much. We can be action biased online just as we are irl. Posting could be an expression of “hey, I think I’m important look at me,” or it could simply be a
“Yo I was just thinking about this what do you guys think?”
We have more opportunity to be more of ourselves in the digital sphere, as time goes on.
Even though we’ve already moved towards expressionistic models that support this (i.e. “low quality” videos in your bed yapping), the perceptive models of receiving this type of media often times fall behind. As a viewing consumer, we get to be critical of the idea, taking it as “this person thinks this is fact” when really it’s more of “this person is sharing an idea and experimenting with how it lands.” We don’t fully know the REAL Rhea’s relationship with xyz thing! If we want casual content, we need casual responses. We can’t always be taking everything so seriously, or even worse, personally… especially online.
Maybe most people already do this and I’m stuck in an echo chamber of internet insecurity. Your social media mindset, and the amount of agency you have in your relationship with social media, is indicative of how it impacts your wellbeing.
Sharing your life is a fundamental aspect of the human experience. Sharing on the Internet can mean that you think you have something worthy of sharing, or it could mean you just want to share. Everything is an expression of values, but you’re allowed to be wrong and you’re values are allowed to change, and that doesn’t make you a bad person. We are always evolving. Keep worth out of it and let me throw ideas at the wall.
